Aug 12 Frozen Mochachino Cheesecake

This recipe requires minimal skill or experience, but results in a decadent creamy frozen mocha mousse-like cheesecake that never fails to impress.

No baking, just press a crumb crust into a pan, mix a few ingredients together, whip some cream, fold it in to the mixture, pour into your pan, and freeze.

You'll need a 8" or 9" spring form pan, and:

1 1/4 cups chocolate cookie crumbs (about 24 wafers)*

1/4 cup melted unsalted butter

1/4 cup light brown sugar

250 g cream cheese, softened

2/3 cup chocolate syrup

2 tablespoons espresso-cooled **

1 tablespoon Tia Maria, or other coffee liqueur

1 can (300 mL) sweetened condensed milk

1 cup whipping cream

Optional Garnish-

60 gram dark chocolate bar, grated

To make the crust, stir together the cookie crumbs, melted butter and brown sugar. Press the mixture into your pan, across the bottom and part way up the sides.

In large bowl, beat the cream cheese until softened, 2-3 minutes on medium speed using an electric mixer or stand mixer. Add the chocolate syrup and espresso and continue to beat on a medium speed for another 2-3 minutes, until smooth. Next add the magic ingredient, sweetened condensed milk, and beat for another minute, until everything is combined.

In a large bowl, whip the cream on high speed until it holds soft peaks. Fold the whipped cream into cream cheese mixture until no streaks of white appear, and everything is thoroughly incorporated.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, and cover with plastic wrap.

Freeze the cheesecake for at least 6 hours, or overnight. If you plan on garnishing the cheesecake with chocolate, freeze your chocolate bar too. It will make grating it a little less messy.

To garnish, just before serving grate the chocolate bar over surface of the cheesecake using a box grater. I used a combination of the finest grater to cover the whole surface in a thin layer, and the slicer to create a border of bigger chocolate shavings.

*You can usually find prepared chocolate cookie crumbs in the baking aisle of most groceries, next to the graham cracker crumbs. If not, look for plain chocolate wafer cookies (or Oreos), and crush them in a ziplock with a rolling pin, or in the food processor using the steel blade.

In all my many years as an "amateur pastry chef", I've learned that any recipe listing sweetened condensed milk as an ingredient will result in something delicious. True, it's not the healthiest thing going, but hey, we're talking about dessert here.

As advertised, sweetened condensed milk really is a magic ingredient.

All you have to do is simmer an unopened can of the stuff for a few hours, and it transforms into caramel for goodness sake.